The present essay deals with the representation of the First World War in Italian cinema of the 1930s. Approaching the subject from a new and different perspective, the essay aims to specifically discuss the way in which the Austro-German enemy has been depicted in Marco Elter’s film Le scarpe al sole and Oreste Biancoli’s Piccolo alpino . The essay’s purpose is to shed new light on these films, which stand exemplarily for the changing representation of the First World War in Italian films in the 1930s.